The Lagoon Project is an intergenerational project helping to reconnect local men to cultural and traditional practices. Canoe making is a feature of this project, alongside spear and trap making.

The project ran from 2019-21 in the Wagga Wagga and Snowy Valleys communities.

Students engaging with ERA First Nations Cultural Producer Marcus Wright at Lagoon site at Wollundry Lagoon, Wagga Wagga

Clapping sticks in canoe at Wollundry Lagoon, Wagga Wagga

Canoes on Wollundry Lagoon as part of Artstate Wagga. Image: Jack of Hearts Studio

Canoes at Tumut Visitor Information Centre

The team, led by Marcus Wright from Eastern Riverina Arts and Shane Herrington of National Parks and Wildlife worked with men from community and high school students around the Eastern Riverina Arts region teaching traditional skills.

Workshops took place in 2020 centered around working and building Traditional Wiradjuri Canoes from the areas of Wagga Wagga and Traditional Wolgalu Canoes in the areas of Tumut and Brungle. Removing the bark and treating it to form a fully functioning canoe. These workshops allowed local men of the area to reconnect to their cultural and traditional practices. It was also a good time for a yarn.

During Artstate Wagga, 5 – November 2020 the muriin (Wiradjuri: canoe) were be floated in Wollundry Lagoon.

The canoes are now in situ at Tumut Visitor Information Centre in Tumut, NSW.

Shane Herrington, NSW National Parks & Wildlife Discovery Ranger

About Shane

Shane Herrington is an Aboriginal Discovery Ranger with NSW National Parks and Wildlife. He is a Wiradjuri Wolgalu man. His cultural knowledge comes from the local elders Aunty Alice Williams, Uncle Rod Mason and Uncle Vince Bulger. The cultural knowledge has been passed through the generations to him and he has been teaching cultural practices and protocols for 14 years. Shane will lead the workshops throughout the region.

About Marcus

Marcus Wright, former First Nations Cultural Producer, Eastern Riverina Arts

Marcus Wright was part of our Eastern Riverina Arts team. He is a proud Wiradjuri (Wiradyuri) and Gamilaraay (Gomeroi / Gamilaroi/ Kamilaroi) man. Marcus was the coordinator of the Lagoon Project and worked closely with our First Nations Reference Group.

Images by Jack of Hearts Studio

The Lagoon Project is an initiative of Eastern Riverina Arts delivered in collaboration with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Aboriginal Discovery Team.
The Lagoon Project acknowledges the assistance of the Commonwealth Government through the Indigenous Languages and Arts program.